


It's Some Kind of Madness

by canyousonicmedoctor



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, FIx It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 07:32:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1461004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canyousonicmedoctor/pseuds/canyousonicmedoctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It that…” Emma has to take a second to rein in her growing horror. “Regina is that your heart?!” Emma could not think of a single reason why Regina would remove her own heart.</p>
<p>“Yes. If you must know, it is.” Regina sighs in annoyance. “I am not stupid enough to face Zelena with it still in my chest."</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Some Kind of Madness

**Author's Note:**

> I know I need to update BWTD but I REALLY needed to fix the last episode! I also wanted to get it up before the new one aired on the East Coast and so I didn't have time to edit it! Sorry for any/all mistakes! I'll edit it and fix it up later. I hope you like it!

Emma’s senses are on hyper alert mode as the group- her, David and Belle- moves through the woods. She had been tense and waiting ever since Neal died. The thought still made her throat close up. It probably would until she actually had time to process what happened. Things were moving too quickly now to mourn him properly.

 

Being so tense, it’s no surprise that when Emma catches movement out of the corner of her eye she whips around to face the intruder. Her gun is up and trained on the unknown person before she realizes who it is.

 

“Regina? What are you doing out here?” The other woman stares down her nose at Emma’s weapon. Emma’s voice attracts Belle and David’s attention but she waves at them to keep going. “It’s alright. I’ll catch up with you guys in a minute.” As they continue down the path she adds as an afterthought, “Don’t do anything until I’m there okay?”

 

With the rest of the group gone, Emma turns her attention back to Regina. The last time she saw her, Regina had dismissed her attempts to help. Maybe now that they were alone- or just not with Mary-Margaret- she would open up. “What are you doing out here?” she repeats. “Zelena could be anywhere.”

 

“That’s exactly what I am preparing myself for, Miss Swan.” Regina turns her back on Emma but Emma doesn’t want to let Regina do this alone. She shouldn’t have to.

 

“Wait, Regina.” At the sound of her name, Regina faces Emma once more, her hair flipping and framing the older woman’s face in the distracting way it always does. “Is it anything I can help you with?” she asks, hoping Regina will let her for once.

 

“This does not require your concern,” Regina snaps, shifting so that her right hand is concealed more fully behind her back. Emma recognizes the evasive gesture immediately.

 

“What is that?” she asks, stepping forward to try and see what Regina is hiding.

 

“Honestly this is none of your business!” Regina takes a counter-step back but Emma got cloe enough to see the small, glowing, red object in Regina’s hand.

 

“It that…” Emma has to take a second to rein in her growing horror. “Regina is that your heart?!” Emma could not think of a single reason why Regina would remove her own _heart_. "That is...that is  _insane_!"

 

“Yes. If you must know, it is.” Regina sighs in annoyance, ignoring Emma's last comment. “I am not stupid enough to face Zelena with it still in my chest.” She rolls her eyes like Emma is being particularly dense for not grasping that fact sooner.

 

“Well what are you going to do with it?” Emma quickly realizes she is terrified that Regina is going to do something drastic.

 

“I’m merely going to hide it for the time being. I’m not trying to kill myself if that’s what you were thinking.” She gives Emma a calculating look. “Though that would certainly make things easier for the rest of you.”

 

Emma feels stricken by the careless way Regina spoke so casually about ending her own life. “I think we’ve established by now that I don’t want you dead.’

 

That gives Regina pause. Yes, she does know that Emma doesn’t want her dead after all the times the blonde had saved her.

 

Emma takes her chance as the silence grows between them. This is probably the only time Regina’s walls aren’t up in full force. “Besides, you can’t just leave your heart lying unprotected in the woods. Anyone could find it.”

 

“Well it is the only way I can protect myself from Zelena. I can’t hide it in my vault as she can access it easily and that will be the first place she looks. If she gets my heart she could kill me in an instant or control me as she has with Rumplestiltskin. I would be powerless to stop her.”

 

Emma hesitates as an idea comes to her, unsure of how it will be received. She figures she already got this far; she might as well offer all the help she can. “I get you want to hide it but maybe you could get someone to look after it while you’re gone…” Emma suggests, hoping her meaning is clear enough to Regina.

 

“I don’t see people lining up around the block to safeguard the Evil Queen’s heart,” Regina points out. Emma sighs as she realizes she has to spell it out for her.

 

“I would.” The words come out softer than Emma intended.

 

Regina can’t help the surprise at Emma’s offer. “You would be willing to guard my heart?” she asks skeptically. The one in Emma’s chest stutters at the phrasing. “But I’m sure your parents expect you to be at the confrontation do they not?”

 

“Well yeah I guess,” Emma agrees reluctantly. “I could help you place a protection spell over it.”

 

Regina scoffs. “Zelena is powerful enough to break through any barrier we could possibly set.”

 

“What about a blood magic ward thing? She can’t get past if it’s my blood can she?” Emma is all out of ideas after that so she hopes it works.

 

“I suppose that would work. Come. We have to do this quickly,” Regina commands. Emma follows her obediently.

 

Regina walks until she finds what she’s looking for. “Here,” is all Regna says before she hands her heart to Emma. Emma is so surprised she almost drops the warm, slightly pulsing object. Regina kneels down and begins clearing out a small hole at the base of a particularly big oak tree. While Emma would normally take the opportunity to appreciate Regina’s ass from this angle, she is far too occupied with the organ in her hands.

 

Despite everything she and Regina have been through and how hard they have fought each other over the years, the amount of trust that went into Regina giving Emma her heart is….astronomical. She hadn’t actually expected Regina to accept her offer.

 

“Emma,” Regina’s voice calls Emma out of her thoughts. Regina holds out her hand expectantly and Emma realizes she doesn’t want to give Regina her heart back. She hands it back because she wouldn’t betray the trust Regina has in her like that but she feels a sense of loss as it leaves her hands.

 

Emma could swear that as the heart exchanged hands the bright light emitting from it dims just slightly.

 

“Right,” Regina says, sounding a bit dazed. She shakes her head just slightly as a black bag emerges from her coat pocket. Carefully, she slips the heart into and kneels down once more to lay the bag down in the hole. Emma certainly isn’t distracted enough to not take a look at Regina. When Regina stands up and sees just exactly where Emma was looking, Emma definitely sees the light emitting from the bag brighten considerably for a moment.

 

The two of them hold eye contact for a moment. A long moment. Emma can’t shake the awe that had take hold of her she held Regina’s heart in her hands.

 

“So,” Emma says, clearing her throat. The moment is effectively broken. Glancing away, Emma rubs the back of her neck to dispel the feeling. Regina busies herself by getting to work replacing the dirt over the hole. “I guess we should bet that blood magic up and running, right?”

 

“Of course. Come here.” Reina holds out her hand and Emma tentatively joins their hands. Regina flips Emma’s palm over and, faster than Emma can process what is happening, draws a line across it with a small knife. Emma sucks in a breath at the pain but Regina is already holding her hand over the mound of dirt to let a few drops of Emma’s blood fall onto the pile.

 

The deed done, Emma tries to take her hand back but Regina increases her hold on it. Without looking at Emma she waves her hand and the thin laceration on Emma’s hand closes up with a pleasant warm tingling. Regina runs her thumb tenderly over where the cut was just seconds before, sending shivers down Emma’s back in a way that she generally didn’t associate with the commanding woman. Sure she often felt the sharp heat of lust but this was something softer. Equally as intense but much more closely related to the tender way Regina had touched her hand than the way Regina looked in a blouse and pencil skirt.

 

Regina drops Emma’s hand unceremoniously. “The spell is rather simply,” she begins to fill the silence between them. “However, I do need to draw from your magic for it to be completed properly.”

 

Emma nods. It makes sense after all and they’d had no trouble making magic together before. “What do I need to do?”

 

“Touch me,” Regina explains simply.

 

Emma’s eyes almost pop out of her head. “I’m sorry, what?” Of all the scenarios where she imagined hearing Regina say those words, she had never pictured them in the woods while trying to create blood magic.

 

“We have to be in contact to transfer magic,” Regina smirks as if she knows exactly what Emma is thinking. “Come, Emma,” Regina orders, holding out a hand and doing nothing to negate the thoughts running rampant in Emma’s mind.

 

Emma presses her hand into Regina’s It’s soft like she remembers from the day of the second curse. Without thinking about it, she laces their fingers together. It feels far more natural than it probably should.

 

Regina doesn’t give her much time to dwell on that because then Emma can feel a tugging sensation coming straight from her abdomen that’s too distracting to ignore. It’s strong but surprisingly gentle, like Regina is afraid of hurting her in some way.

 

The magic that flows out of Regina is a pale lavender color, much lighter than anything Emma has ever seen her produce. Emma’s light magic and Regina’s dark magic combined to make something firmly rooted in the grey area between.

 

Once the spell is finished, Regina slowly untwines their fingers, dragging her fingertips surreptitiously across Emma’s palm before severing the contact completely. “Regina,” Emma starts but Regina is turning away before she can figure out what she wants to say.

 

“So that’s it. That should be enough to keep my sister out for the time being.” Regina says the word ‘sister’ with such bitterness in her voice that Emma can’t help but ask about the mysterious letter that confirmed that fact.

 

“How…how do you know that she’s your sister?” Emma asks tentatively. She is fully prepared for Regina to snap at her, to tell her to mind her own business or something else of the like.

 

Regina stares at her for a moment like she is sizing Emma up. She must see something in Emma’s face because she walks over to a fallen tree and sits down. Emma doesn’t expect an invitation and so sits down beside Regina without one.

 

The former queen digs into her pocket to pull out a folded piece of parchment. She holds it gingerly as though the paper is fire and every second she holds it her fingers burn. “It’s a letter. From Rumplestiltskin to my mother.” She hesitates just a moment before handing it to Emma. Their fingers brush in the exchange.

 

Emma pulls apart the pages slowly, carefully. She looks at Regina for confirmation and receives a ‘go on’ gesture. Emma clears her throat before reading aloud.

 

“Cora dear,” she begins. “I finally got my hands on your first born. I never thought I’d find her did you? Now I know why.” Emma understands now that Regina assumes this letter is about Zelena. “She’s the most powerful sorceress I have ever encountered, even more powerful than you;” She can’t even imagine the emotional blow those words must have dealt when reading them in the vault. “Stunning in every way.” At this Emma can’t help but glance at Regina. She has never in her entire life encountered anyone as beautiful as the woman before her. Zelena is nowhere near any sort of comparison. “The letter’s about Zelena,” she states simply, voicing her thoughts out loud.

 

“I’ve seen that letter a hundred times before,” Regina tells her, turning her face away slightly to hide the sheen of tears forming in them. “In my darkest moments I would go to it for comfort, solace or…a boost when I needed it. Because I-” Regina’s voice breaks mid-sentence and she has to take a pause. All Emma wants to do is reach over and clasp Regina’s hand in hers as the woman continues. “Because I always thought it was about me.”

 

“Regina, look at me,” Emma requests softly. Regina slowly turns her head towards Emma. The tears rest so close to the surface, waiting to fall. Emma lifts her hand and tucks a few strands of Regina’s hair behind her ear. Regina leans into the touch ever so slightly. “You are a thousand times the witch Zelena is. Screw what Gold thinks. You can win this because no matter what,” Emma drops the letter into her laps to grasp Regina’s hand with her free one, “I will be there for you. And together we are pretty much unstoppable.” She has no idea where the emotional pep talk came from but she means every word of it.

 

Regina doesn’t even blink for a few moments as her eyes flit around Emma’s face. The honesty is there, no sign of deception because there isn’t any. Obviously Regina is satisfied with what she sees because she closes the space between them and kisses Emma softly.

 

Emma is surprised by the outcome but the strange creature that had taken up residence inside her ever since she held Regina’s heart sings. She loops her fingers in short hair, scooting her body along the tree to get as close to Regina as possible. Neither of them notice when the note falls from Emma’s lap.

 

Regina’s hand cups Emma’s jaw, holding her in place as they kiss. It may last seconds but it feels like years to Emma. She would have gladly kissed Regina nonstop for the next few years if her phone didn’t chose that moment to go off. Reluctantly she breaks the kiss but doesn’t move any farther away from Regina.

 

“Hello?” she asks into the phone, slightly out of breath. “Okay. Okay. Don’t do anything hasty. I’ll be there soon.” Regina is looking down into her lap, her cheeks tinted with the slightest hint of red.

 

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me,” Regina tries to apologize. Emma doesn’t say anything but tilts Regina’s chin back up to look her in the eye.

 

“Whatever it was,” Emma tells her with a grin, “I hope it comes over you again soon.” The seriousness of the moment is belied by the twinkle of happiness in Emma’s eyes. She kisses Regina chastely, lingering there for a few moments and just enjoying the feeling of their lips together. “And I promise that, together, you and I can take Zelena down. I’m not gonna let her hurt you.”

 

Regina smiles that tight lipped smile as she tries her best to hold back her emotions. When she can’t think of anything better, she runs her thumb over the back of Emma’s hand. “Thank you.”

 

Emma lights up even further at the words and squeezes Regina’s hand softly. “Thank you for letting me help.” They sit that way for a moment, neither one wanting to look away. “But I have to go. David and Belle say that Zelena isn’t at the cottage and they want to find out where Rumple is before she gets back.” She stands up and then helps Regina stand.

 

Pulling the other woman flush against her, Emma kisses Regina once more just because she can and because she knows now that she had wanted to do it for such a long time. “Be careful, okay?”

 

“As you wish,” Regina responds before stepping out of the embrace. “Now go, otherwise they will come looking for you.”

 

Emma salutes Regina before running off in the direction David and Belle had taken, both of them working over the new development in their relationship and finding that they like it very, very much.


End file.
